Ramesh”SunnyBalwani, the former chief operating officer of Theranos, which promised to revolutionize blood tests, was convicted of fraud on Thursday, six months after a similar conviction was handed down to his former partner Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the missing California startup.
He pleaded not guilty to all counts, but a San Jose jury found him guilty of all counts of defrauding the company’s investors and patients, court documents seen by AFP show. Ramesh”SunnyBalwani, like the former leader, faces several decades in prison. His verdict will take place on November 15. Until then, he is free on bail, but the judge raised his bail to 750,000 dollars.
Elizabeth Holmes pleaded guilty to defrauding investors
Theranos’ promises to make diagnostic tools faster and cheaper than traditional labs have excited the enthusiasm of many businessmen and high-level figures, including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense James Mattis and media mogul Rupert Murdoch. But the startup, founded in 2003, collapsed after a scandal in 2015, when the Wall Street Journal revealed that the technology never worked as expected.
Elizabeth Holmes, who started her business when she was just 19, was found guilty of defrauding investors but was acquitted of some charges on January 3 after more than three months of trial. His sentencing is scheduled for September 26, but he has appealed. Ramesh’s trialSunnyBalwani opened on March 22 after several delays due to Covid. The prosecution emphasized the responsibility and experience of the operations director, who supported the young boss and supported him in his decisions.
The two former leaders and ex-lovers were originally to be tried together before their cases were separated. During her trial, Elizabeth Holmes assured the jury that her romantic relationships “SunnyBalwani was enamelled by forced sex and that he was responsible for his company’s technical problems. With his charismatic personality and polished storytelling, he embodied one of Silicon Valley’s mantras.fake it till you make it“(“fake it till you make it“).
His lawyers insisted on his good faith in court. “Failure is not a crime, persistence and failure are not crimes” said Lance Wade, for example. However, according to the prosecutor, the former entrepreneur deliberately deceived his partners in order to raise money, totaling more than 700 million dollars.
Source: Le Figaro
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